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Burkina Faso 1 Ghana 0: Late Alain Traore stunner seals bronze

Alain Traore netted a late stunner as Burkina Faso beat Ghana 1-0 to clinch third place at the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations.

The bronze-medal game in Port-Gentil appeared to be headed for penalties, but the attacking midfielder decided different with a sublime free-kick into the top corner with one minute left to go.

It was all Ghana in the opening stages and Emmanuel Agyemang-Badu and Bernard Tekpetey both created gilt-edged chances to open the scoring.

Tekpetey should perhaps have handed Ghana the lead after all halfway through the first half after a corner from Jordan Ayew. The Schalke youngster got a clear chance to break the deadlock after his initial header was blocked by Bertrand Traore, but he was unfortunate to see his attempt from the rebound hit the crossbar, before goalkeeper Kouakou Koffi cleared the danger.

Grant's men continued to dominate after the interval and Jordan Ayew was unfortunate not to open the scoring when he fired a shot inches over the top corner early in the second half.

Substitute Cyrille Bayala should have won it for Burkina Faso after an intelligent throughball from Nakoulma with 12 minutes left on the clock, but the attacker failed to beat Richard Ofori from inside the area, aiming straight at the Ghana goalkeeper. 

But Burkina Faso were not to be denied and Alain Traore found the top corner with a stunning free-kick from a narrow angle.